Tobacco Road is adapted from a stage play, written by Jack Kirkland, in turn adapted from the novel by Erskine Caldwell. It deals with a family from the Deep South that has fallen on hard times, following the depression. The family has turned into a group of likeable larrikins, who drive like maniacs, squabble and seem to survive on a wing and a prayer. In the introduction to the film, it was asked why these characters would have appealed to Ford as the subjects of one of his movies. But the family belong to a lonG line of hillbillies, a strand of US culture which can be traced from Huckleberry Finn to The Dukes of Hazard right through to JD Vance today. The idea of a genial company of characters living off the land is embedded in the North American psyche, and not so very far removed from Thoreau. These characters have an innate charm which is loosely tied up with the idea of freedom, a freedom to break the rules and live how they want to, which has inspired US consciousness since the earliest days, and Ford does a stirring job portraying their rumbunctious energy.
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